Regan Smith was far from pleased with his 25th-place finish in his Nextel Cup debut. The Cato native pitted outside his box early in the race, was penalized one lap and never recovered.

“Anytime you feel like you have a better car than the driver you leave the track disappointed,” said Smith, who dropped from 18th to 39th after the pit-road penalty.

“I made a mistake on pit road and that pretty much killed our day from then on. I was barely over the line - sometimes the (NASCAR) official is lenient but he wasn't today.”

But Smith, who temporarily took over the car from Mark Martin, was pleased to still be running at the end of the race.

“I feel it was a huge accomplishment to finish the race at Bristol,” noted Smith. “We are proud of that because that was the main objective. I'm glad this is over, all the hoopla about my Cup debut.”

Smith also will drive next week at Martinsville Speedway. The car he was driving entered Bristol on top of the points, but dropped to eighth after Martin sat out.

But crew chief Ryan Pemberton still lauded the effort.

“Everyone has to remember he didn't come into an easy situation by driving the car that was in the points lead and making his first Cup start at what is probably the toughest track on the circuit,” Pemberton said. “But Regan handled himself very well both on and off the track. We were impressed on how he regrouped after that early pit road mistake.

“He drove a hard race. He's a pleasure to work with and this deal is only going to get better.”